This Present Breath
by Harkpad
Summary: A follow-up to "There is Flattery in Friendship." The second in a series of conversations the team has about Jack while they're out at the pub. Tonight they realize that Jack must be old in love as well as in life.


**So I'm officially dubbing this my "Flattery" series (and both titles so far are tied to Shakespeare). I hope to try at least one or two more pub scenes like this to explore different things about Jack and his relationship with the team. I hope it doesn't get old. Oh, and for the purposes of this series, Ianto and Jack are progressing slowly with their reacquainting after Jack's return from TYTNW. **

"**This Present Breath"**

"Is Jack coming tonight?" Tosh asked Ianto as they sat down in the booth, each with a pint of beer.

"I asked him a couple of times," Ianto replied, taking a drink while they waited for Owen and Gwen to sit down, "He shrugged the first time and then as I was leaving he said he'd see how long it took him to finish the report he was working on before he decided."

"He's not coming," Owen guessed as he sat down with his own beer.

"Let's get drunk and then crank call him and pester him," Gwen suggested, laughing, and they all grinned.

"He does have a report due tomorrow to UNIT and the Prime Minister," Ianto explained.

"I hated those," Gwen said, taking a drink. "Bloody bureaucrats never understood what I was talking about."

"That's why you had _**my**_ help," Ianto reminded her with a chuckle. "I'm very good at taking what really happens and turning it into bureaucratese."

"You're good at bullshit, then," Owen retorted.

Ianto nodded. "I kind of miss doing that stuff."

Gwen looked at Ianto, "Doesn't he ask for your help?"

Ianto shook his head, "Not much. He's pretty good at it, too. He's been doing it long enough."

Owen leaned in conspiratorially, "How old is he, Ianto?"

They all looked expectantly at Ianto, but Ianto just took a drink and shrugged. "Not sure."

Owen grimaced, "We know he can't die, but we don't know how long he's been around."

Tosh speculated, "Well, he certainly knew the 1940s when we were there. He fit in perfectly."

Ianto offered, "Yeah, but Torchwood records show that he's been around, IF I'm reading them correctly since they don't mention him by name, a lot longer than that."

"How do you know they're talking about him?" Gwen asked.

Ianto smiled, "Jack's hard to miss. There's not a lot there; it looks like he tried to get rid of as many references he could, but I did some digging while he was gone and there's an agent like him in the ranks every thirty years or so starting in the mid-1800s."

"Mid-1800s?" Owen said, a little too loud.

"Yeah," Ianto said with a grin. "If that is him, he's old."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I remember you all talking about him like he was a great mystery when I first came along," Gwen said. "Remember? Guessing whether he's gay, guessing where he comes from."

"We never could have guessed this," Tosh said with a smile.

"I did a search before he asked me to join. A search on his name," Gwen said.

"Yeah, a captain in the Second World War. 1940s," Ianto said thoughtfully.

"If that's him, maybe that's the first official record of him because he joined the service," Owen suggested.

"Does it matter if it's him?" Tosh asked quietly.

"What do you mean, Tosh?" Gwen said, looking puzzled.

"Well, he's someone who can't die and who's been around a very long time compared to the rest of us. Does it matter exactly where he came from and when?"

They sat in silence a few moments.

"He'd be fantastic to bring to a pub quiz if he has been around that long. We could win the history bit hands down," Ianto said with a small smile. The rest of them laughed, too, and the conversation turned to pub quizzes and more drinks were ordered. It was Owen who brought things back to Jack.

"You've never asked him how old he is," Owen said to Ianto.

"No," Ianto replied, "It didn't seem important. Of course, before, I just assumed he was in his thirties. He didn't seem too old for me."

"Did you go out on that date yet?" Tosh asked with a grin.

"Yeah," Ianto replied, a smile in his eyes.

"Did you make him work?" Gwen said, leaning in over the table.

"We had dinner. We went to a movie. He took me home and said goodnight." Ianto leaned back in his chair, "I didn't have to make him work."

"Weird," Owen mumbled.

Tosh leaned onto Ianto's arm. "Did you wear red?"

He grinned down at her, "Yeah," and then after a pause, "He wore blue. _**Jeans**_."

Gwen sputtered into her beer. "Jack Harkness owns jeans? Now THAT is weird."

Ianto shrugged, "They work surprisingly well for him." And Tosh slapped him on his arm and he laughed. "We had a good time. He said he wants to do it again, so I suppose we will."

Owen leaned back in his chair. "1800s. I think you're setting a record, Jones."

Ianto scowled, "I suppose. It's more like he's outside of time, so it doesn't matter."

Tosh nodded, "I know what you mean. It's like it never occurs to me to ask if he knows a music group or has seen _that_ movie or if he follows sports."

Ianto nodded. "Yeah, me either. Football, though. He knows football."

Owen laughed, "Seriously? Who does he follow?"

"Cardiff City, of course. But yeah, I about choked the first time he started rattling on about it. He laughed and asked what I expected from someone who's been here so long." Ianto looked thoughtful. "Closest we came to discussing his age, I suppose."

"Oh my god," Gwen suddenly said, slamming her glass onto the table. They all looked at her in shock. "That woman, Estelle. She had a picture of Jack and he said it was his father. Said they were lovers but the war took him away and then Jack showed up years and years later claiming to be the father's son."

Ianto sighed, took a drink, and nodded. "It would have to be him, right?"

Gwen looked thunderstruck. "They _must_ have been lovers. He broke down when we found her dead. I've never seen him look like that before. Broken. It was gone quick, though," Gwen said with a desperate tone, "It was gone too fast, that grief."

Owen put his hands on the table and stared at them, "It would have to be, wouldn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Tosh asked.

"Well, think about it. He's over a hundred years old if Ianto's right. She wouldn't be the first lover he's lost. "

"Lifetimes of lovers," Ianto said, almost to himself.

"He's got to have practice moving on with things. Hell, I'll bet he's an expert," Owen said as he took a long swig of beer and suddenly looked sad.

Tosh leaned into Ianto, "But he does move on, and tries again apparently."

"And he wears jeans," Gwen added.

Ianto sighed, "But he doesn't come to the pub, as it turns out."


End file.
